Following the 2024 offseason trades of Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan, the Chicago Bulls were left with two veteran starters: Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine. But their fate seemed clear. With the team struggling, the signs of a looming rebuild echoed throughout the organization.

Chicago’s veteran duo was openly on the trade block as the 2024-25 season began. Yet, little progress was made as the calendar turned. Both players reportedly had suitors—LaVine with the Nuggets, Vucevic with the Warriors—but neither trade materialized.

That is, until a surprise trade request came from Sacramento. Amid a tumultuous campaign that saw Head Coach Mike Brown fired midseason, Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox requested a trade, with the intention of landing in San Antonio.

The Kings ultimately honored Fox’s request, sending him to the Spurs as part of a three-team trade. The third team was the Bulls, who sent LaVine and the remaining $141 million on his contract to Sacramento.

Trading Zach LaVine is a better in the long term

In return, Chicago received merely Tre Jones and Zach Collins from San Antonio, Kevin Huerter via Sacramento, and its own 2025 first-round pick, which was sent to the Spurs in exchange for DeRozan in 2021. Here’s the catch: the pick wasn’t fully unprotected—it was top-10 protected. This meant the Bulls could have kept their 2025 first-rounder if they had chosen to tank in the latter half of 2024-25.

All in all, it wasn’t the best trade at the time. It’d be expected that a then-29-year-old averaging 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 3.2 three-pointers while converting his field goals at a 51.1 percent clip and his threes at a 44.6 percent rate would net more than three outcasts and a nonessential draft pick.

At the end of the day, trading LaVine was more about the Bulls’ long-term strategy than short-term gain. First and foremost, paying the 30-year-old nearly $100 million over the next two seasons would be organizational malpractice. Even dishing out $21.4 million to Vucevic is a tough pill to swallow.

Moreover, jettisoning LaVine opened the door for younger guards Josh Giddey and Coby White to shine. Both significantly raised their point production after his departure, also expanding the scope of their games. With LaVine out of the picture, Giddey and White project as potential future All-Stars.

Lastly, though it took longer than it should have, trading LaVine finally signaled the start of a rebuild. Chicago recouped its first-rounder while going on a late-season heater, winning 16 of their last 25 games—a best-case scenario, considering the Bulls traded their once-franchise player for mere pennies on the dollar.

Now, without LaVine, Chicago can fully focus on the future. Vucevic is the only remaining Bulls veteran from the early 2020s. Remove him, and the team’s oldest player is 29-year-old Jevon Carter, who’s only still around thanks to the player option he exercised.